The Walking Dead will have a very different vibe in the 2nd half of season 7

The Walking Dead has been leaving some fans cold this season with the arrival of notorious villain Negan, who has brought with him a nihilistic sense of unrelenting violence and despair. However, showrunner Scott Gimple might have a speck of hope for those fans who are struggling to carry on past the midseason hiatus: The second half of season 7 is going to see a big change.

I will say 7B's vibe is very different from 7A's vibe. The ending of 7B is very different than the beginning of 7A. Just the vibe in 7B, I was just talking about it with Andy [Lincoln] last night. It's just a very, very different half season than the half season that preceded it.

Even with structure, what we're doing right now with the episodes and seeing where everyone is at, the structure is very, very different than the back half. There's a lot more variety to the structure. It's just a very, very different situation, but 6, 7, 8 ... Wow, we're really close, aren't we? I would say the end of 7A is very different than the beginning of 7A. That's the thing that kind of launches that different tone of 7B.

Really, if you've been a fan this long it's unlikely that you won't be watching the midseason premiere, especially considering that the episodes before and after a hiatus tend to be particularly strong. But this shold be reassuring to those who have felt a bit put-out by the tone of this new season.